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Mark Cullen says wild things will make your garden sing

There is a wild debate going on between two types of gardeners: The natives and the traditionalists.

A praying mantis, which Mark Cullen borrowed from his garden, is one of the hundreds of insects, birds, butterflies and other wild things that make your garden thrive. Groovy! (MARK CULLEN / FOR THE TORONTO STAR)

There is a wild debate going on between two types of gardeners: The natives and the traditionalists.

Natives are people who believe that we need to plant native species exclusively in order to maximize the positive impact on our ecosystem. But traditional gardeners are primarily interested in the beauty and function of their gardens.

I am not so much a fence sitter on the issue as I am a hedge planter. That is, I would rather plant a hedge and be a good neighbour, the kind of neighbour who generally minds his own business.

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That is not to say that the discussion does not have merit: it does. Walk away from your home and let Mother Nature take over and it will be no time before a Manitoba maple seeds itself in your eave troughs. A couple of years down the road, a pussy willow may poke through your kitchen window. The forces of nature are indeed powerful.

For a few generations, Canadian gardeners have been working hard to control nature in their efforts to create the manicured haven that one imagines to be the perfect garden or “outdoor living space,” to use the currently popular language. The use of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) to control broadleaved weeds is one example. (Will we ever stop asking how to kill weeds when the only long-term solution is to compete with them?)

Another is the use of machinery to trim, cut, prune, blow dry and control lawns, trees, shrubs and the hedge that I just planted. Two-cycle leaf blowers and trimmers come to mind. My, how I hate those things.

If you believe that your lawn and garden is part of a larger whole, an ecosystem that stretches around the block and radiates out from your neighbourhood, we are on the same page. For you, I have the following suggestions that will enhance the quality of your garden and the effectiveness of it as a wildlife habitat.

Grow lots of plants. Look for plants that bear fruit, berries, nuts and seeds. These are primary food sources for wildlife including birds and small visitors, like mice and squirrels. Some of you will consider mice and squirrels to be unwanted rodents. Frankly, they represent an important part of the ecosystem, too.

Flowers

The purpose of flowers is to attract pollinators. Attracting them to your garden is a worthy goal of any gardener. Plan your garden with a succession of bloom in mind. Begin with the early spring flowering bulbs like scilla, snowdrops, narcissus and crocus (which you plant as bulbs this time of year) and work your way through the season, building to a crescendo of colour mid to late summer when the pollinator population peaks. Think of attracting butterflies, hummingbirds and pollinating insects.

Vary the blossom shapes. Look for simple and composite, open and tubular flower shapes. Each will attract a different selection of pollinators.

Water

I swear that the pond in my backyard attracts a wider range of desirable wildlife than any other feature in my garden. Frogs, toads, fish, song birds and even many insects make this the centre of their universe. Think of the watering hole in the African savannah where a host of animals come each evening for their daily fill up. That is the role of your garden pond.

Refuge

Offer wildlife a place to hide, sleep and breed. A hedge can be helpful, a stack of firewood that is allowed to rot over several years (obviously at the back of the yard, likely out of view) and an un-mown section of lawn between your pond and a hedge works well.

Plant up

Use your vertical space and consider planting shrubs and trees that reach up into the sky where they will harbor birds and insects.

Minimize hard surfaces

You need a driveway, I admit, but how about a permeable driveway or walkway up to the front of your home? Many commercial applications are being installed now, including a state-of-the-art parking lot at the Toronto Botanical Garden just this past season. The goal was to slow the flow of rainwater runoff. Under ideal circumstances, a permeable driveway sequesters rain water for use in your garden later during dry spells. Bark mulch, pea gravel and semi-permeable interlocking stones can work nicely as a garden path or walkway.

In Boston, there is a series of parks and naturalized ravines that are linked together in what is referred to as the Emerald Necklace. Walking, running and biking paths travel along a 65-kilometre stretch of green spaces creating some of the most sophisticated ecosystems in an urban area. It was created in the 1890s, when the city was growing quickly, by the city fathers who obviously had a lot of foresight.

Your garden is part of an Emerald Necklace, it is just less obvious to us humans than it is to the birds and other wildlife that live there. Jennifer Owen, a passionate backyard naturalist who spent 30 years studying the wildlife in her garden in Great Britain, identified more than 2,200 insect species. According to The Garden magazine, she demonstrated that a typical garden attracts more than 8,000 insect species over a 30-year period.

“Jennifer deliberately did not fill her garden with native plants or provide habitats to attract species; she managed it as any gardener would, apart from avoiding herbicides and pesticides, and trying to keep a good succession of flowering plants for pollinators throughout the year,” the story the The Garden read.

When we boil this discussion about native vs. non-native species down, we realize that our gardens are not an exclusive domain for human activity. Rather, they are the playground and working space of more wildlife than we dream of.

As Jimi Hendrix would say, “Groovy!”

Groovy, indeed.

• Pumpkins: Wednesday is Halloween and you may plan on putting out a pumpkin. When you are finished with it I suggest that you move it to an obscure area in your garden where late frosts will “melt” it into the soil like the Wicked Witch of the West. It is, after all, 99 per cent water. What is left over is good for your garden.

• Special event: Heritage Tree Workshop, Friday, Nov. 9, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Presented by the Ontario Urban Forest Council (OUFC) and Trees Ontario. Learn how to identify, research and nominate heritage trees in your community at this specialized Toronto session of the OUFC’s province-wide Heritage Tree Training Workshop. For more information, go to yourleaf.org.

Mark Cullen is an expert gardener, author and broadcaster. You can sign up for his free monthly newsletter at markcullen.com, and watch him on CTV Canada AM every Wednesday at 8:45 a.m. You can reach Mark through the “contact” button on his website and follow him on Twitter @MarkCullen4 and Facebook. Mark’s latest book, Canadian Lawn & Garden Secrets, is available at Home Hardware and all major bookstores.

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